I had a meeting Wednesday in another city. This called for me to wake up absurdly early to meet my director and carpool together. I'd like to call these three hours on the road with my boss as "Moments of Great Potential."
In 2010, John Baldoni wrote an article in the Harvard Business Review called "Tips for Making Small Talk with Bigwigs," where he stated,
In an article on the website poynter.org, a global leader in journalism, Scott Libin gave pointers on how one should prepare for a meeting and/or conversation with the boss. Some of my favorite pointers I kept in mind were:
In 2010, John Baldoni wrote an article in the Harvard Business Review called "Tips for Making Small Talk with Bigwigs," where he stated,
"Anything involving a boss can have a big impact. Conversation with a superior can be fraught with peril but can also be a great opportunity. Peril comes from the fear of saying the wrong thing; opportunity arises because you can reveal a new dimension of yourself to other."I decided to leave fear to the side and focus on opportunity. As I knew I'd be spending some one-on-one time with him, I made sure to prepare the day before.
In an article on the website poynter.org, a global leader in journalism, Scott Libin gave pointers on how one should prepare for a meeting and/or conversation with the boss. Some of my favorite pointers I kept in mind were:
1. "Time it right."This was easy for me as I knew I'd be alone with him during the car ride, I knew there was no better time to get him one on one.
2. "Do your homework."
The afternoon before, I thought about all the things I needed to discuss with him my boss. I also printed out materials that were pertinent to the topics I would be addressing, and made sure to have a notebook available in case I would need to jot down anything important during our conversation.
This time spent Carpool Communicating went really well. I was able to talk about some of the concerns I'd been having, introduce him to my introduction of SLACK (which he seemed pretty excited about), go over things I had been working on, and just generally sit back and chat, allowing us the time to get to know one another better.
With his pleasure over my adding SLACK to the office and his listening and responding to my concerns over areas where communication could still be improved, then him offering to help in those areas I look at today's "Moments of Great Potential" to have been a big win in the great effort to improve communication.
AND I shall also add that, while I was at my out of town meeting, I received numerous messages via SLACK from one of my coworkers.
References:
Baldoni, John. (2010, Mar 22). Tips for Making Small Talk With Bigwigs. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2010/03/tips-for-making-small-talk-wit
Libin, Scott. (2006, Aug. 25). Chats with the Boss: One-on-Ones 101. Poynter.org Retrieved from https://www.poynter.org/2006/chats-with-the-boss-one-on-ones-101/76913/
3. "Be Open Minded."I knew it was possible some of my ideas would be shut down and/or possibly argued, so I went into this time with him keeping this in mind and being prepared for disappointment.
4. "Don't bury the lead ... get to your point (Baldoni, J., 2010)."Once I was in the car, we exchanged initial pleasantries and then I pulled out the folder and told him I had some things to go over with him.
This time spent Carpool Communicating went really well. I was able to talk about some of the concerns I'd been having, introduce him to my introduction of SLACK (which he seemed pretty excited about), go over things I had been working on, and just generally sit back and chat, allowing us the time to get to know one another better.
With his pleasure over my adding SLACK to the office and his listening and responding to my concerns over areas where communication could still be improved, then him offering to help in those areas I look at today's "Moments of Great Potential" to have been a big win in the great effort to improve communication.
AND I shall also add that, while I was at my out of town meeting, I received numerous messages via SLACK from one of my coworkers.
References:
Baldoni, John. (2010, Mar 22). Tips for Making Small Talk With Bigwigs. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2010/03/tips-for-making-small-talk-wit
Libin, Scott. (2006, Aug. 25). Chats with the Boss: One-on-Ones 101. Poynter.org Retrieved from https://www.poynter.org/2006/chats-with-the-boss-one-on-ones-101/76913/
I love your line, "I decided to leave fear to the side and focus on opportunity". It can be difficult to speak to superiors without some sort of a nervous, butterflies-in-the-stomach reaction, but focusing on opportunity and being well prepared definitely pushes fear to the side.
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